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University of Nevada Cooperative Extension will host a training April 11 on how to eliminate pests while protecting pollinators, such as bees. Photo courtesy of Wendy Hanson Mazet, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension.

Workshop available at 14 locations statewide April 11

University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, in partnership with the Nevada Department of Agriculture, is offering a workshop April 11 to train people throughout the state how to eliminate pests while protecting pollinators. The workshop is meant for certified applicators, people who regularly handle pesticides as part of their jobs, such as farmers, ranchers, park employees and groundskeepers. Attendees will receive continuing education units.

“Pesticide applicators have to be mindful about how to kill the bad pests while protecting the beneficial insects,” Cooperative Extension Urban Integrated Pest Management and Pesticide Safety Program Assistant Melody Hefner said. “You have to remember — if you kill the beneficial insects, you inherit their job.”

Topics include:

Nevada Pollinators, presented by State Entomologist Jeff Knight with the Nevada Department of Agriculture

The training will be held in Las Vegas at the Clark County Cooperative Extension office, 8050 Paradise Road, suite 100, and will be made available via interactive video to 13 other Cooperative Extension locations throughout Nevada, including Battle Mountain, Caliente, Carson City, Ely, Eureka, Fallon, Gardnerville, Hawthorne, Lovelock, Reno, Tonopah, Winnemucca and Yerington. The training runs from 1 to 4 p.m. The cost is $30 and covers three continuing education units.

Cooperative Extension, in partnership with the Nevada Department of Agriculture, has offered pesticide application workshops for the last 20 years, training thousands of Nevadans in safe pesticide use.

The April 11 workshop is not intended to help those who have not yet been certified to prepare for the Certified Pesticide Applicator exam. However, exams are given weekly at the Nevada Department of Agriculture offices in Sparks and Las Vegas by appointment only. Study materials and practice exams are available online at www.nevadapesticideeducation.info.